The ThirdFloor Bedroom
by Christmas Roses
Summary: It all began when someone left the window open... *A Harris Burdick Mysteries Story*


**Hey, this is Christmas Roses. This was originally an English assignment, and my first draft too! Tell me if you like it, and I might post the edited version in the future...or not... give me suggestions on how to improve please. : )**

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><p>Prologue<p>

_ In the cover of darkness, a strange shadow of a man crept towards a small house, one of the many nice houses along the street. He (or was it a she?) slithered, almost like a snake, towards one wall of the house that was shrouded in vines. The mystery person shot out a single hand, and almost instantly was crouching on the windowsill of a third story room. Almost with a wave of a hand, the window opened with a barely audible creak, and the shadowy person suddenly disappeared. A few minutes later, faint fluttering could be detected from the inside the strange room; Suddenly, a pure white dove, with feathers so white that snow would seem dirty, burst through the window, and took to the sky. Then there was a creeping, deafening, silence that cut to the bone. In the town, nobody stirred, and nobody noticed this strange __occurrence_.

Three houses down on Winter Lane, lived the happy family of the Johnsons. Little Katy Johnson, her twin sister Sadie, and of course, Mom and Dad. The two identical twins may have been alike in appearance, but personality-wise, the two could have come from different universes. Katy was shy, quiet, pretty, and the best student in class. Sadie on the other hand, was always the troublemaker. Never caring to much about her grades, she constantly broke rules and went to detention. Quite strange how these two would get along so well, never arguing or making the general sibling ruckus.

Well, let's not worry about that now. For now, we'll follow the twins on one peculiar day in June…

"Katy, please, just come with me once!"

"No Sadie, Mother would be furious if she found out!"

"But I've done it many times! Mother hasn't found out yet!"

"No! I refuse! You haven't been there once! Liar."

"Please?" Sadie, with her wide, green puppy-dog eyes, was using them with full force, but Katy, always the goodie-two shoes, wouldn't budge. What are they doing? You many ask. Well, Sadie was beggi- ahem-_convincing_ Katy to go with her to the forbidden guest room. The third-story bedroom, forbidden by Mother, was boarded off, and no one, not even the guests, ever used it. Sadie and Katy always joked with the neighborhood kids that it held a scary monster, or witches brooms, or even just a pile of junk. Oh, the innocence of those children, for if they only knew, if they only knew.

After almost half an hour of begging and bribing, Katy gave in, and allowed Sadie to lead her to her good-girl image's figurative demise. With Mother out to visit a friend, there was no need to be sneaky.

The girls tromped up the stairs, Sadie making particularly obnoxious stomps just to make Katy wince. Up two flights of stairs, the door of the bedroom leered ominously from the end of the hall. Sadie strode over to it, and, without any hesitation, opened the door.

"I never knew it was always unlocked." Katy commented in wonder.

"Well that's 'cause you never come up here anyway." Sadie shot out.

"I do too!"

" Ah! So Miss Goodie-Two Shoes isn't really so good, _is _she!"

"Hey!" Katy yelled, gently shoving Sadie, unintentionally pushing her into the room.

Just as Sadie started to stumble, she grabbed Katy's wrist, and both of them fell into the room.

The two girls scrambled into a sitting position and looked around. "Wow…" Katy breathed. "This is amazing." Indeed it was. A small, comfortable bed dominated the middle of the room. Oak furniture made the room warm and comfortable. But what was most amazing was the wallpaper. Unlike the boring white walls of the rest of the house, the wall was covered in beautiful doves that seemed to fly into the vines behind them.

Suddenly, a chilling gust of wind blew in. "Whh..why is the w..w..window open?" Sadie wondered out loud. Getting up from her knees, she moved to close the window. As Katy watched in wonder, a single dove suddenly seemed to peel off the wall. She gave a small squeak of surprise as the dove morphed into a living bird, shaking its head and ruffling its feathers.

Sadie had closed the window. She turned around. "Katy? Katy, what's wro-?" To her horror, she saw her sister, struggling on the floor, terror in her eyes. She was screaming as if something was attacking her. "Stop! I didn't touch it! Please, don't hurt me!" As Sadie walked towards her sister a strange pure white dove flew right in front of her face. Hovering there, it seemed to stare right into her eyes.

_You have closed us off from our freedom again. For that, you and your sister shall join us, and suffer our pain. We will soon be free of this accursed place, and no one will ever be able to find you again._

All of a sudden the walls seemed to explode, and Sadie was blown into the air. As she rose and rose and rose, without any sign of stopping, she slowly, without even knowing it, started to morph, turning into a strange bird. She was a pigeon, to be exact. The bird flew into the white fluffy clouds, believing that it had always been a bird. As it flew on, a white feather fell from its tail, and alighted upon a stone in the garden of the house on Winter Lane.

As for Katy, nobody knows where she had disappeared. Mother never knew she had a house on Winter Lane, or that she had two wonderful daughters.

Far away, in another strange place, a shadowy figure cackled, finally fulfilling its task.

Epilogue

_ Three houses down Winter Lane, a rundown house can be seen. Some windows have broken and chipped glass below and inside the panes. Some don't have anything at all. The front door barely clings to its hinges, creaking violently each time the wind blows past. Weeds overtake the driveway; Tall stalks of dried grass sway in the breeze. Dandelion seeds float through the air all over the lawn. The eastern wall of the house is mostly gone. Bricks broken in half are scattered all over the parched ground. A dried pond, also covered in weeds, lies in disrepair. The only thing left that could tell you of what happened is a single pure white feather that has never moved from the same rock it sits on._

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><p><em>It all began when someone left the window open.<em>

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><p><strong>I hope you liked it. Reviews can really brighten my day sometimes. (No really, sometimes it really does)<strong>


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